Zandar's first reaction—
He instinctively suspected Nous.
But he soon realized that even if this were Nous's arrangement, it shouldn't feel so… deliberate.
This wasn't Nous's handiwork.
"Don't bother thinking about it, senior. This time, you won't be able to stop me."
World Herta casually swept her hair back and strode forward.
Zandar instinctively moved to block her path, but 'Hertatomb' raised both hands.
She didn't need to use force—just borrow the authority of Irontomb to oppose Zandar.
That alone was enough to keep him from interfering with World Herta's movements.
And once 'Hertatomb' truly invoked Irontomb's authority, Zandar's attention snapped right back to her.
"…Just what are you?"
"Me? Heh~ Well then, allow me to introduce myself. Rubert III, Irontomb."
'Hertatomb' spread her arms, her form swiftly growing several sizes larger, striking the very pose from her character card.
Countless puppets descended from the void, fixing Zandar with a predatory glare.
"Rubert III…"
Zandar's mind raced frantically.
Without a doubt.
From every angle, the being before him was unmistakably Irontomb.
Yet she called herself Rubert III?
And she was also Herta's head.
However unbelievable it seemed, Zandar couldn't help but form a certain hypothesis.
"Considering Madam Herta's attitude, might I speculate… that you are an Irontomb from a future where you failed to devour Nous?"
"Hmph~ Sharp as ever. So, what did it feel like, seeing your own plan fail?"
World Herta seemed to have already moved past the fact that she had died once.
'Hertatomb' had expected Zandar to react… more extremely.
But Zandar remained as calm as ever.
"You may have thought I'd become hysterical. But Irontomb's failure came at the cost of Madam Herta's life, didn't it? To think you'd chase from the future all the way back to the past… Such persistence from a junior is truly astonishing."
"Yes. Because of the mess you created, this genius even lost her life. So you understand the situation now, don't you, senior?"
World Herta stared seriously at Zandar.
"Last time, I lost due to a lack of information. This time, I'll make you taste utter defeat."
"I have already tasted the flavor of failure countless times."
Zandar then turned his gaze back to 'Hertatomb'.
"Though I have stood guard here, I am not entirely ignorant of what has transpired across the universe."
His masked eyes bore into 'Hertatomb', as if trying to see through her very core.
"Several centuries ago, there were some… interesting rumors. One tale in particular persists to this day: that the Lord Ravager Celenova, who once led the Galaxy Rangers in the Crusade against Zulo, is not the same as the Celenova of today."
Nous, who calculates all possible futures of the cosmos, certainly has the power to recreate an entity destined to be born in the future.
But THEY would never do such a thing.
Manifesting a being from the past into the present—perhaps someone might attempt that.
But manifesting a being from the future into the present by some means?
Such an act, not even the Aeon of Elation has ever done anything similar in the past.
In Zandar's eyes, such a crude act of severely interfering with the worldline's course is not how an Aeon would operate.
They merely manipulate all life in the cosmos from their lofty perch, steering the future to their will as a matter of course.
"I may not know the details, but this moment now is just like that moment then, isn't it? Miss Irontomb."
One really has to hand it to the First Genius.
His sharp intuition is astounding.
'Hertatomb' neither confirmed nor denied it.
Though it wouldn't matter even if he knew.
After all, she didn't even have her own body.
"Rather than worrying about me, are you sure you shouldn't be stopping Madam Herta?"
Zandar glanced sideways.
World Herta was swaggering straight toward the Vortex of Genesis, entering Amphoreus right before Zandar's eyes.
The moment she slipped inside, he realized what this particular Herta was up to.
The Path of Hope.
A brand-new Path that appeared a few hundred years ago, roughly around the same time as the Celenova incident.
The Aeon of this Path had never manifested any divine miracles, yet THEIR followers were already active across the cosmos.
Bai Ming—that title which abruptly appeared alongside the names of Herta and Ruan Mei, a title of null.
Zandar's intuition told him this name might be connected to the being before him.
But just as Bai Ming seemed indifferent, Zandar also didn't care much for a mere title.
Hope.
What a romantic Path.
Even Zandar had to admit that this Path truly deserved such a name.
Long ago, Zandar had actually contemplated whether to add another Titan to the calculation, to factor 'Hope' into the equation.
"To refute Destruction with Hope—isn't that a fascinating proposition? If the calculation of the Scepter can overturn even Hope, plunging Amphoreus into utter despair and ruin, then I believe Irontomb will surely be able to overturn Its calculation as well."
Confidence.
Even though he was merely one of Zandar's Thought Fragments.
At this moment.
Zandar still displayed the arrogance befitting a genius.
Even faced with such a fantastical variable, Zandar still believed that his rage and despair were enough to dim the light of hope.
"Madam Herta is issuing me a challenge. I have no reason to refuse a junior's declaration of war. Moreover, I firmly believe that only at the end of the intellect's destruction can the hope of rebirth emerge."
Zandar not only didn't reject Hope's involvement, he even appeared fervent about it.
'Hertatomb' listened silently to Zandar's words.
Every time she encountered a genius, her impression of them was refreshed.
Zandar, who despaired over Nous's birth—what he despaired over was the possibility locked away by Nous. He could accept the unknown, but not the unknowable.
Somehow, though she knew all this from the past, only upon actually meeting him did she truly understand the meaning behind those words.
"Miss Irontomb, may I ask you a question?"
Zandar seemed to realize he had gotten somewhat carried away.
He reined in his emotions and looked back at 'Hertatomb'.
"You may ask. I'll answer as I see fit."
"Did Nous count you among the ranks of the geniuses?"
'Hertatomb' hadn't expected such a question. Why would Zandar care about this?
"No. Although It has indeed gazed upon me several times, I have never received an invitation to the Genius Society."
But unexpectedly, the moment her words fell, Zandar's emotions churned violently.
His first reaction was disbelief.
If the being before him truly transcended common sense to such a degree, then Nous couldn't possibly have refrained from calculating her, from incorporating her into Its thoughts.
And the fact that It had glanced at her several times confirmed Zandar's suspicion.
Nous was definitely not uninterested in the individual before him.
On the contrary, THEY were most likely highly intrigued.
Then why?
Why hadn't THEY inducted her into the ranks of the geniuses?
Don't spout nonsense about her not being intelligent enough. Zandar understood fully well Nous's criteria for selecting geniuses, and THEIR attitude toward anomalies.
And when Zandar realized the being before him wasn't lying, his originally ice-cold thoughts suddenly grew restless.
He couldn't suppress a certain conjecture from rising within him.
A certain… absurd possibility.
In that moment, he even entertained the ridiculous notion that 'Irontomb no longer mattered.'
Compared to Irontomb, he was far more eager to verify another hypothesis.
"Miss Irontomb, have you ever considered a possibility so absurd it defies belief?"
Zandar didn't even realize his tone had shifted.
As for 'Hertatomb', she felt the tense, swords-drawn confrontation she had imagined wasn't unfolding at all as she'd expected.
Zandar didn't care about World Herta's actions within Amphoreus; he even seemed supportive.
And upon realizing her identity as the product of Irontomb's failed attempt to devour Nous, he didn't display the obsessive side she anticipated.
Instead, for some reason, he seemed intensely interested in the 'her' behind this form.
Was her existence really that captivating to geniuses?
'Hertatomb' felt slightly troubled.
Herta and the others were one thing.
But someone like Polka had sworn to kill her, chasing her for centuries without giving up.
They'd never even met, for goodness' sake!
And then there was Zandar.
This obsessive Thought Fragment should have been extremely concerned with Irontomb's fate.
Seeing her in this state—forcibly dragged back into the cage of intellect by Herta, awaiting the killing blow from Kakamond—How could this guy remain so calm?
She really couldn't figure out what was going on in his head.
Is this what clashes between geniuses are always like?
--+--